agriculture

S*OIL is a human-powered interactive installation focusing on the industrialization of agriculture, biofuels and topsoil erosion. Mechanical and electronic systems are combined with living systems using experimental perennial food crops, video, and an electronically controlled irrigation system. A mechanism in the likeness of a railway handcar that uses bicycle parts as a chain drive was built as the central object of interaction in the installation. These mechanisms were chosen for their historical and nostalgic references, linking industrial and natural processes while contrasting them with human consumption and expenditure. Participants operate the handcar to activate the installation by generating the electricity needed to power the pump and irrigation system, and videos.

Eyebeam presents Resident Stefani Bardin's Commodity Cropism in the Window Gallery, March 3 - April 16. The multi-channel video installation culture-jams highly stylized tropes of commercials in order to look at three problematic monocultures of industrial agricultural production: corn, soy, and sugar. The project seeks to expose veiled information about these crops and provide the public with data left out or obscured by loosely monitored food production and labeling systems.

After reports last week that India halted plans to introduce a genetically modified eggplant to the market because of an outcry from environmental groups and the general public, it begs to question why in the US genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are so common. In fact, more than 9 out of 10 soybean seeds are not only genetically modified, but come from Monsanto. It's just a little lower for corn. It makes you wonder why Americans aren't a little more skeptical, if not completely frightened of the fate of our food system....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Okra, tomatoes, lettuces, beans, pepper, kale, peas, cucumbers, arugula, and basil are growing in the Window Farm on display in Eyebeam's window gallery. The hydroponic system includes a pump in a reservoir on the floor which pushes water and nutrients to the pipe at the top. The nutrient solution then drips through the columns of plants which are resting in suspended recycled water bottles. Low energy bulbs supplement natural light. This Window Farm was built using low-cost, easily accessible materials. It represents one in a series of designs for low-energy, high-yield DIY hydroponic vertical farms that are suited to small New York city spaces. windowfarms.org.